Wondering

This morning I woke up at 6 AM, to get ready for kids club. I didn't have much to do, just write a couple of notes for the leader's devotion for that morning. The day's bible story was the story of Jesus healing the ten lepers, and I was going to focus on thankfulness. you know, something along the lines of remembering to be thankful at the end of the day, even though we'll be tired and stuff.
But when I woke up, this other idea popped into my head. I assumed it was God, since I'm not typically capable of having ideas before the sun rises! I felt like I had to do something different, and when I sat down at the computer, a bunch of other stuff just poured out of my fingers. (Again, seemed like God, my ability to create anything these past few months has been seriously not there.)
I ended up saying this:

Just imagine for a minute that you have been isolated from your family, from your friends, from most of the world. You have been in pain, and the small amount of human contact you have is met with disgust and fear. And then something changes. Something happens to your life. Someone happens to your life. Suddenly, all is well again. Your friends want to be with you again, your family loves you again. People on the street are high fiving you, and inviting you to parties.

If you could, wouldn’t you want to say thank you to the person who had brought about this change?

It’s easy for us to say yes, and to judge those 9 other men in the story. But how often has our response been the same? How often have you not thanked God for healing or blessing in your life? I know for me, that is almost every day.

We get busy, we get tired, or we simply don’t recognise what he has done. Or we take it for granted. Jesus died on the cross. So what? That was thousands of years ago. I’ve got my own life, my own problems to deal with, I just don’t feel like saying thanks right now.

But when someone gives you a gift, you probably want to accept it. And part of accepting a gift, is saying thanks. I mean, you can just take it and run, but to me that sounds like a 16 year old kid who gets given a car for his birthday. “Oh great” he thinks, and drives off. Except, if he’d taken a minute to say thanks to his parents, he would have heard them say “and we’ll teach you to drive”.  Which would have helped him avoid the accident between his car and the letterbox.

The memory verse today is “God wants everyone to be saved, and to know the whole truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4). That means the kids who come here today, and each of us in this room. And the truth is that Jesus Christ came to earth, and gave himself as a ransom for us, as the next couple of verses in 1 Timothy say.

Without Jesus, we all have a kind of leprosy. I mean our skin isn’t really infected, but our life is. Just think about your life. Think about the arguments you have had, the terrible things you have seen. Think about the people who have hurt you. Think about the people you have hurt. Life isn’t the way it is supposed to be. You can feel that inside you.

And it’s all because of sin. Because we are no longer fully connected to God. What was once a perfect relationship, in a perfect world is now ruined. It’s pretty crappy really.

However, we have the chance to get right with God. Just like Jesus healed the ten lepers, he has healed the world...almost 2000 years before Michael Jackson asked for it...

Jesus did this for everyone, whether they wanted it or not. Dying on the cross was universal. But because he is loving and just, and gave us free will, we don’t have to accept his gift. Some people are like the 9 other lepers, who take Jesus gift, but don’t really bother to accept it properly. They don’t say thanks, and so they miss out on what the fullness of their healing is.

Jesus loves everyone, but not everyone responds.

This is our theme today, and as we present this message to the children, I think we should ask ourselves where we sit with God. Have we accepted his gift of spiritual healing, and entered into a relationship with him? Do we thank him continually for what he has done? If your answer is no, then please, take some time to consider accepting Jesus’ gift.

Kinda lame, but hey, give me a break, I was writing it at 7AM...
I just can't figure out why God wanted me to say that. And I'll probably never know. Which is OK, but being the cat that curiosity has tried to assassinate on many occasions, I just want to know. I mean I won't even know if it was really God, or just my crazy, befuddled, early morning brain.